THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thanks for the warm
welcome. Thanks for coming out to greet me -- at kind of a strange
hour. (Laughter.) General, I appreciate your accommodating what I'm
calling Rudolph One. (Laughter.) After all, it is the holiday season.
You might have heard, we made a little refueling stop in Baghdad earlier
today. And now I'm proud to be back in Afghanistan. (Applause.) You
might call it an early-morning wake-up call. Or in some of your cases,
I might have cut your evening off. We won't go there. (Laughter.)

In either case, I am proud to be with brave souls serving the
United States of America. (Applause.)

And my dear wife sends her very best regards. (Applause.) So, on
behalf of Laura, and everybody else back home, merry Christmas, and a
happy holidays. (Applause.) Congratulations on your tremendous
accomplishments. And above all, thank you for volunteering to defend
the United States of America.

You know, they often say, what are you going to miss? I'll miss
the airplane, of course. (Laughter.) But I'm mainly going to miss
being the Commander-in-Chief of such an outstanding group of men and
women.

I appreciate Sergeant Major Vince Camacho for his service. I want
to thank Ambassador Bill Wood, the Commanding General of U.S. Forces
Afghanistan General David McKiernan; Brigadier General Mike Holmes,
Commanding General 45th Expeditionary Wing. Soldiers of the 101st
Airborne -- (applause.)

I told the General that I had the honor of going to Fort Campbell
the other day. (Applause.) I saw a lot of your comrades, and I saw a
lot of your families. And they have a message for you: Air Assault!
(Applause.)

I thank the airmen of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. I kind of
like your motto: Start right, finish strong. (Applause.) Yes, that
sounds pretty good for a guy with 36 days left. (Laughter.)

I appreciate your countries for supporting this noble cause. I
want to thank all the civilians, the diplomats, the embassy personnel
who are critical to our success. I thank all the other brave Americans
here today, including members of the United States Navy, the United
States Marine Combat personnel, FBI agents -- (applause) -- and last but
not least -- (laughter.) They may sound small, but they're plenty
tough. (Applause.)

And last but not least, the 101st Army Band. (Applause.)

You probably played some high notes to keep the folks awake.
(Laughter.)

Afghanistan is a dramatically different country than it was eight
years ago. When I took office in 2001, the Taliban was brutally
repressing the Afghan people. Girls were denied access to school.
People who did not submit to the regime's radical beliefs were beaten in
the public, or executed in soccer stadiums. Al Qaeda had freedom rein
to operate the country -- in the country. And it was here in
Afghanistan that the terrorists planned the attacks of September the
11th, 2001.

After that date, America gave the Taliban a choice: You can turn
over the leaders of al Qaeda, or you can share in their fate. And when
they refused, our just demands were enforced by the United States
military. And thanks to you, the Taliban has gone from power, the al
Qaeda training camps are closed, and 25 million Iraqis are free. And
the American people, your loved ones, are more secure. (Applause.)

Removing the Taliban was a landmark achievement. But our work did
not end there. See, we could have replaced one group of thugs with
another strongman. But all that would have done is invited the same
problems that brought us the al Qaeda safe havens and the attacks on
America in the first place. Those were the mistakes of the 1980s and
1990s, and we were not going to repeat them again in the 21st century.

So America set an ambitious goal -- to help Afghanistan's young
democracy grow and thrive, and emerge as an alternative to the ideology
of hate and extremism and terror. This is a difficult and long effort.
It's not easy to do this. It would have been so much simpler to say we
got rid of one bunch and here's another one. But that's not what we
believe is right. We want to lay the foundation of peace for
generations to come. We want to do the hard work now so our children
and our grandchildren can grow up in a peaceful world.

So we rallied good allies to our side, including every member of
NATO. We've developed civilian experts in the form of civilian [sic]
reconstruction teams. And together with the determined people of
Afghanistan, we are making hopeful gains.

Thanks to you, girls are back in school across Afghanistan. Does
that matter? I think it does. I think it does. Thanks to you, boys
are playing soccer again, and flying kites, and learning to be Boy
Scouts. Thanks to you, access to health care is up dramatically.
Thanks to you, Afghanistan's economy has more than doubled in size. And
thanks to you, the Afghan people are preparing to go to the polls next
year for another round of free elections. Thanks to you, Afghanistan
has a democratic government that is no longer an enemy of America; it is
a friend of America.

The enemies of freedom in Afghanistan are determined, no question
about it, and the fight has been tough -- I don't need to tell you.
This is a large country; it has a long way -- it's a long way away from
a modern economy with a viable infrastructure. It's hard to get around
Afghanistan. Yet we have a strategic interest, and I believe a moral
interest in a prosperous and peaceful democratic Afghanistan. And no
matter how long it takes, we will help the people of Afghanistan
succeed.

As a sign of our commitment, we've increased American troop levels
in Afghanistan. Our NATO allies have done the same. And so have the
Afghan people -- Afghan army and police have grown. I call it a quiet
surge. It's a surge that hadn't gotten much attention. But it has an
unmistakable message: The Taliban has gone from power, and it's not
coming back. Al Qaeda terrorists have lost their safe haven in
Afghanistan, and they're not going to get it back. Afghanistan will be
a successful society and a hopeful society and a free society. And
Afghanistan will never again be a safe haven for terrorists to attack
the United States of America.

In recent months, the violence has increased in some parts of
Afghanistan. This is partly because we're going into new areas where
the terrorists have never been challenged before. And if the enemy are
fighting back, they don't like it when we show up. But ultimately, they
will be no match for the Afghan people or her coalition partners. And
they're certainly no match for the men and women of the United States
military. (Applause.)

I am confident we will succeed in Afghanistan because our cause is
just, our coalition and Afghan partners are determined; and I am
confident because I believe freedom is a gift of an Almighty to every
man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth. Above all, I know the
strength and character of you all. As I conclude this final trip, I
have a message to you, and to all who serve our country: Thanks for
making the noble choice to serve and protect your fellow Americans.

What you're doing in Afghanistan is important, it is courageous,
and it is selfless. It's akin to what American troops did in places
like Normandy and Iwo Jima and Korea. Your generation is every bit as
great as any that has come before. And the work you do every day is
shaping history for generations to come.

Because of you, America has a strong friend and partner in the
fight against extremism in a pivotal part of the world. Because of you,
people across the broader East -- Middle East now have an example of a
more hopeful path -- a model of liberty that can prevail over tyranny
and terror. Because of you, killers who wanted to take the lives of
Americans back home have been brought to justice before they reached our
shores. And because of you and all who work to protect our nation,
America has done something many said was impossible: We have gone more
than seven years without a terrorist attack on our homeland.

This time of year is especially a time when we thank the Almighty
for our freedoms. And we think of those who laid down their lives to
protect those freedoms. Back home their children are growing up without
a mom or a dad. But all of our children are growing up with something
else -- the promise of a safer America, the promise of a better world,
and the more likelihood for peace.

This is a lasting memorial -- all who have sacrificed here in
Afghanistan. And thanks to you, that memorial will be achieved, and the
sacrifice of your comrades will not have been in vain. We think of the
comrades who have been wounded. Our nation pledges that we will give
them all the care and all the support they need to recover.

And finally, we think of your families back home. You've got a
loved one wondering what you're doing, how you're doing -- I want you to
do me a favor: When you get back to wherever you're getting back to,
call them, e-mail them, or write them. Tell them you love them, and
tell them the Commander-in-Chief thanks them for their sacrifice, thanks
them for loving you like they do, and thanks for -- thank them for
standing with you as you serve the noble cause of peace.

I am proud to be with you. I thank you from the bottom of my
heart. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United
States of America. (Applause.)